I don't think everyone has to leave Google for you to have productive anonymous discussions. For what it's worth, I think reputations (under anonymous usenames) are A very important component in having accountability and quality in discussions.
Can you imagine HN working if people were required to put their name and job titles ? Just because someone works for Microsoft for example does that make their support or criticism of the company any less valuable. Or what about all the political discussions where there could be legitimate fears of reprisal by government agencies.
It does not make it less valuable, but it does change how we interpret it. If I found myself commenting on my current (or previous) workspace, I'd feel obligated to disclose my relationship.
Now, all this said, I fully expect to be "doxxed" publicly at some point on my various accounts, so I keep that in mind when making commentary, and I hedge my bets. The fact that it was Google that has prevented me from discussing things on YouTube without doxxing myself, though, is truly disappointing. Maybe they're not losing any money by losing commenters like me, but if I'm ever inspired to create viral content that could make ad money, Vimeo's getting that ad money now.
That doesn't mean Quora isn't working well for you, but you should be aware of the fact that some who are willing to contribute in constructive ways are not contributing to Quora as things stand.
[1] http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/greater-internet-fuckwad-theor...
It's easy to find my name from my HN userid. If you google it, my first name comes up tied to other accounts.
But if you search for my name, HN does not come up on the first page at least.
Nevertheless, I'm sort-of conscious that what I post on HN is easy to tie to me real-world.
On Reddit, I use another username. Not because I'm particularly worried about individuals making the connection - if you look through my comment history on Reddit, it is fairly trivial to figure out who I am. The other direction is slightly trickier, but probably not much.
But I don't want someone just casually typing my name into Google to get page up and page down with comments I have made in what amounts to casual conversations.
That Google does not appear to understand that compartmentalisation is part and parcel part of social interaction, and that people put an enormous amount of effort into adjusting their identity for different situations, or if they do understand choose to willingly and knowingly ignore it, says heaps about the company. I don't know which alternative is worst, but it's one more reason to tell the Google recruiters to go away next time they call...
> I do think there's some truth to the idea that anonymity can put more focus on content than the creator. If you make something that's good enough to get you a decent-sized fanbase, and you use a recognizable identity, people are more likely to be forgiving of weaker work you make in the future. If an online community already has recognized favorite content creators, that also makes it extremely hard for new people to come in and get recognized for their own content. Basically, a community based in anonymity can override the whole "argument from authority" fallacy, because no one has any authority. Anonymity is an equalizer. It can even benefit people who would normally do well even with an identity, because it leaves them free to experiment without being criticized for deviating from their earlier work.
The reason I say leave Google is simply because if we don't support platforms that work along the lines we want them to, they may not exist. People despise Facebook's policies, yet they stay on it because "there's no other choice". So my point was that we kindof just need to nut up & stop using platforms that we feel don't respect our wishes. If I had some videos to post I'd prob put them on Vimeo. With video posting, it's not really an all-or-nothing situation like Facebook. It's a technical need, not a social network.